


liquid gold

by crimsongravedigger



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, fairyau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsongravedigger/pseuds/crimsongravedigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun finds love in a sunflower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	liquid gold

_liquid gold_

> fairy (noun): a mythical being who had magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as small and spritely with gauze-like wings; A sprite.

 

Luhan thinks he’s lucky- he loves yellow. He also really likes orange because one time Jongdae offered him a small bite of his tangerine and Luhan could feel the sugar melting on his tongue (“It’s no surprise these tangerines are the best, I helped them grow with my dust” Jongdae had said with a proud smile on his glowing face) but yellow, oh, yellow is his favorite color out of the whole spectrum. The first time Luhan opened his almond eyes on a hot June morning, yellow was everything he could see. It gave him warmth, protection, safety, and when the sunflower slowly opened its petals to greet the sun, Luhan stared at that star until he couldn’t see anything else around himself anymore and black dots started to appear in the sky. Then, after rubbing his small fists against those sleepy eyes of his, he lifted himself up and looked around to admire what he now calls fields of gold: an infinite, glowing, beautiful multitude of sunflowers.

He was, in fact, born in one. Luhan still looks a bit like a sunflower too, with his mop of honey blond hair and dark bronze painted fingertips, frail see-through wings and glimmering golden skin. He was born with no shoes and no clothes, but he quickly learnt how to fabricate some with the help of leaves and petals stolen from random flowers. Luhan’s hands were still clumsy as they tried to wrap a rose petal around his waist- it felt so weird, he didn’t even have any rope to keep the whole outfit together, but the velvety sensation felt really good against his bare skin. Later, when he met another fairy by chance, Luhan wasted no time and thankfully accepted the new pair of pants the fairy sewed for him. He didn’t accept shoes though, already feeling guilty enough. Kyungsoo, that was the fairy’s name, shook his head and gave him a light blanket made of dried leaves to protect him from the winter as a present (“No need to thank me. If you need more clothes, you know where to find me” Kyungsoo had said and waved from afar, disappearing between tree branches) and that’s how Luhan found clothes and his first friend.

But again, Luhan thinks he’s really lucky. He sits on his bed, or well, on his sunflower, and watches as his short legs swing in the air. The sunlight bathes him in white, warm light, and even though he’s a rather young fairy, he remembers the fields of gold by heart already. Luhan met another fairy a couple of years ago, a fairy named Tao with hair redder than fire and smoother than silk, who was born in the prettiest poppy Luhan had ever seen. Tao hated red more than his life and the fact that he was basically made of red, well, only brought sadness in that little fairy’s life. That’s the reason why Luhan thinks he might be the luckiest of them all, because Mother Nature dipped him in gold and yellow and Luhan couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Luhan doesn’t know much about his birth, sadly. He only recalls the sensation he felt when he suddenly woke up and the first ray of sun kissed his face with love and tenderness. He doesn’t know who gave him his name, or who taught him to fly. He doesn’t even know why he was born in a sunflower, but that doesn’t bother him much. Kyungsoo once told him to just be happy with what he received and Luhan considers himself more than just happy, so that’s okay. He stopped thinking about his origins a long time ago, and now that he’s three years and four months old and as tall as a thumb, he has other things to worry about.

Like his job.

Some fairies do have jobs, but finding a talent isn’t really that automatic. A fairy needs to know itself very well before deciding which kind of job suits it the best, and Luhan spent a couple of months trying to discover his inner talent. He tried to take care of animals like Baekhyun, but a squirrel almost bit his hand off. He tried to clean the lake with Suho, but his wings got so wet that he almost drowned. Luhan tried also to deliver little messages here and there but he wasn’t fast enough, so Chanyeol just patted his shoulder and told him to keep trying somewhere else. For a second it felt like Luhan had no talents at all, like he was useless, but eventually a miracle happened on a cold morning in October. He asked Minseok if he could help him paint leaves (“Winter is getting near, we need to be quick!” Minseok exclaimed while carrying cans of different colors and brushes) and the latter nodded with gratitude. When the tip of Luhan’s brush touched the first leaf, Luhan automatically understood that this was his job. He painted and painted and painted until his wings couldn’t flutter anymore and his limbs were this far from just falling off his tired little body. Luhan was happy though, and so was Minseok, who happened to find a co-worker as fast as a thunder and also a best friend.

—

Luhan brings a glittery hand towards his forehead to swipe off the sweat. August is such a mean month to fairies, the sprite finds himself thinking as he dips the tip of his brush into some red paint. Young poppies need to be painted again because they can’t remain light pink forever, but it’s hard to focus when the sunlight burns his neck like a flame and the fairy dust in his little sack is almost finished. Luhan sighs and lifts up his eyes; he seriously hopes the dust will be enough for him to finish the whole field, because honestly he doesn’t want to fall on his butt and his legs are way too tired to walk. He dips the brush once more and starts painting another flower.

“Luhan, did you know that Jongdae was almost caught by a human the other day?” Minseok suddenly asks, his poppy already half painted and a hint of worry in his soft voice. Luhan shakes his head negatively, feeling shivers run down his back. Fairies and humans are not really enemies, but everybody agrees on the fact that it’s better if these two species just…don’t live together. Some humans don’t even believe in fairies, and Luhan still remembers how his friend once described a kid (“He was taller than trees, bigger than waterfalls! His hands could crush stones! Let me tell you, if you see a human just fly away and don’t ever look back” he had said, wings still shaking and knees pressed against his chest) and honestly, he doesn’t want to feel what he felt.

“Jongdae said the girl wanted to pick a few cherries and then she saw him, but he was quicker and disappeared in a bush nearby” Minseok keeps talking as the poppies that need to be painted become lesser and lesser by the minute.

“Please be careful on your way home, okay? People pick sunflowers all the time” the blue winged fairy begs with a sad smile, finishing his last flower with a final stroke of red paint.

“Thank you Minseok, I’ll be careful. Take care” Luhan waves his little shimmering hand in the air and bids his friend goodbye, noticing just now how the sun is about to go to sleep. He hates flying when the sky is dark because he just wasn’t born to do so, and his eyesight is worse than bats’, so with a last sprint he flies towards the fields of gold. Being paranoid isn’t really a part of his personality, but after hearing Minseok’s scary announcement, Luhan can’t help but feel pairs of eyes fixed on his little glowing frame. He’s not scared, he tells himself. He’s not scared, but when a bird flies a bit too close and the wind blows a bit too hard for his taste, the fairy flies faster and doesn’t dare look behind his shoulder. A sigh of relief escapes from his lips as he spots the fields in the horizon: he’s home, safe and sound.

He finds his sunflower right away; can of paint hidden underneath a leaf and eyelids heavy as a stone, Luhan crawls on his dark carpet and watches as the familiar yellow petals start to gently close on himself. He politely wishes goodnight to the sun and welcomes the moon with one last glance towards the lilac sky, then everything turns black and the tiny fairy falls asleep with his legs close to his torso and soft blond locks on his pretty face. He dreams about lands he has never visited and seas he has never crossed, he dreams about running through golden wheat fields, he dreams about dipping his feet into the waters of a running river, he dreams all of this and so much more, but at some point something feels wrong.

Luhan can’t understand if he’s shaking in his dream or if someone is actually shaking his sunflower, but as soon as his eyes flutter open gracefully, his worse nightmare becomes reality and he has to hold onto the seeds because something or someone really wants to pick his flower. The fairy struggles as he feels himself being thrown everywhere, tears forming on the side of his eyes and ears filled with voices he can’t recognize. Is that a human? Does he wants to kill Luhan? Should the fairy run away? He might tear a petal apart and fly away, but just like it started, suddenly the flower stays still and Luhan wipes his tears away with relieved but scared movements. What the hell is happening, Luhan wonders when the voices just can’t stop echoing inside the flower in a messy and annoying noise.

“Don’t pick that one, it’s still closed. Let’s go, Sehun!”

Luhan freezes. He tells himself to just wait, but apparently listening isn’t really his forte, so he scoots closer to the edge and takes a peek from between two petals. He sees a small human running around with his hands in the air and a bigger human shaking his head negatively. He seems mad, but then a smile appears on his lips and the boy jumps right into his arms. They walk away slowly, occasionally pointing at flowers and at the sun that’s about to rise. Luhan presses a hand against his beating heart and sobs. How the hell is he supposed to sleep now? He just saw his relatively short life flash right in front of his eyes. Luhan waits for a couple of minutes before leaving his little home to fly somewhere else, somewhere safer and far away from those two humans.

He reaches the lake and spots the lotus flower he knows too well; he doesn’t even have to ask for permission- Luhan slowly slides inside and hugs the fairy that’s still sleeping right in the center, pink short hair sprawled everywhere and little snores echoing around them. Minseok doesn’t mind, after all. He never has and probably never will.

Luhan ends up sleeping with Minseok for a month or so, or at least until the pink fairy tells him that he just can’t live in fear for the rest of his existence.

“I know that what happened really scared you, Luhan, but you just need to let go” Minseok says at some point, both literally and figuratively, shaking the arm that Luhan’s been holding for the whole morning. It starts to hurt and they can’t even work properly, glued to each other like ivy on tree barks. Luhan drops Minseok’s arm and sighs, but deep down he knows his friend is right. He just can’t go on like this: he needs to return to his flower and just hope for the best. Luck needs to be on his side too, right?

When Luhan’s bare feet touch the seeds of his sunflower, things seem to get a little better. He missed sleeping there, with soft yellow walls surrounding him and protecting his tiny body like a warm hug. He missed stirring his limbs bathed in sunlight and he also missed watching the fields of gold during sunsets, where bronze meets orange and light blue meets pink in a beautiful mixture of shades and shadows. Feeling at home is probably the best sensation Luhan has ever felt until now. Sleeping in that lotus flower also made his wings humid and his skin even more humid, so maybe leaving the lake was the right thing to do.

Luhan shakes some fairy dust off his legs and ankles. Sometimes he really hates flying, dust gets everywhere- even behind his pointy ears, so he has to spend extra time trying to get them clean the best he can. He’s thinking about visiting Kyungsoo to ask for another blanket - Jongdae said this winter will be so cold that fields will freeze and Luhan doesn’t want to turn into a popsicle - when a voice reaches his eardrums, his poor eardrums that Luhan is trying so desperately to save by pressing the palms of his hands against his ears. He looks around with scared eyes and trembling shoulders, throat dry and a very bad feeling in his tummy; he should have stayed with Minseok, oh Mother Nature, he’s so going to die right now and he’s still so young and he totally doesn’t deserve this-

“What are you?” a soft whisper makes Luhan’s head turn around so fast that he might break his neck, and maybe that wouldn’t be so bad because there are huge brown irises looking directly at him and the fairy screams from the top of his lungs, stumbling backwards until his feet can’t feel the ground anymore. Something warm and slightly sticky catches him before he can become hummus for his own sunflower, bringing the little creature even closer to his young face.

“P-please don’t eat me!” Luhan cries out, shaking like a leaf and eyes already watering. He recognizes the human right away, he is that annoying boy that almost destroyed his house, and Luhan feels so many emotions all at once that he thinks he might explode like a pretty firework.

The kid furrows his eyebrows but doesn’t try to eat the fairy- not yet, Luhan thinks.

“Ew, I don’t wanna eat you. My grandma told me about fairies but I didn’t think they were, like, real” the boy, Sehun, says as his hand gets closer to the sunflower so Luhan can hop on it. The fairy looks at him with confusion painted all over his face and a million questions come into his mind but words just can’t seem to leave his lips. Luhan stares at Sehun and wishes his wings would stop shaking. He can’t trust humans, can he?   

“I won’t hurt you, I promise. Do you have a name? Where do you live? I’m Sehun by the way, I’m thirteen but my mom says I look older. I moved here two months ago or something” Sehun’s mouth just can’t stop moving and Luhan feels dizzy for a second- what the hell is he talking about?

The fairy sits with his legs crossed and mentally tries to calm his beating heart, he doesn’t want to die yet, but the idea that a human is actually talking to him makes him want to spread his wings and fly as far away as he can. He’s still there, though. Luhan is still there with golden eyes staring at Sehun and fingers fidgeting nervously- listening, lips slightly parted, as the boy rambles about himself and his family. He feels stupid honestly, and probably he’s just asking to be killed, but Sehun seems like a kind boy for now and so Luhan decides that he wants to try. He’s still mad about what happened a month ago, but he doubts that Sehun remembers that accident. That flower is basically everything Luhan owns, apart from his dark green pants and a wrinkled blanket, and he can’t afford to lose it.

“So what’s your name?” Sehun asks again, wiping some drool away from his chin with the back of his hand. Luhan opens his mouth and spends a good minute like that, mind still a bit dizzy and an uncomfortable feeling inside his chest.

“Luhan” he says eventually, looking at how Sehun’s eyes light up and how his smile suddenly appears ten times brighter than the sun. The boy claps excitedly and lends him his right hand. Not really understanding the meaning of it, Luhan tilts his head and just waits for something else to happen. What is he supposed to do with his hand?

“You’re supposed to shake it. That’s how humans greet each other” Sehun explains like he just read Luhan’s mind. The fairy swallows and carefully walks towards the boy’s big hand, standing on tiptoe and grabbing his fingertip with both his tiny glittery hands- how could he grab the whole thing? He’s as big as his thumb, after all.

Sehun then laughs, eyes turning so small they almost disappear, and nods with a satisfied smile on his pale pink lips. Luhan doesn’t feel threatened anymore, or at least less than before, and wonders how many humans are like Sehun.

“I don’t have many friends here, so…would you like to be my friend?” the boy’s fingers play nervously with his tank top as he talks, and Luhan thinks it’s cute how Sehun seems genuinely thrilled to spend time with someone as small as him. Luhan also thinks it’s crazy how he’s about to nod because hell, both Minseok and Jongdae have spent decades telling him to run away from men, and yet here he is, willing to trust someone twenty times bigger than himself just because Sehun seems nice. He didn’t try to eat him, which is good, and he didn’t hurt him, which is good too.

The fairy is about to speak when another voice, probably belonging to a woman, calls Sehun from afar because lunch is almost ready and nobody likes eating cold soup. Luhan can feel the woman walking closer as seconds run by, and begins to panic because getting caught by another person is the last thing he wants. He sees Sehun turning around and purposely shielding him from his mother’s eyes with his back, hands waving high in the sky and a nodding head, and that’s when Luhan decides to trust this boy.

“Let’s meet later, okay?” Sehun suggests with a grin, already jogging towards the path that leads to the small village. Luhan waves back and waves with a bubbly feeling in his tummy- he mentally adds Sehun to his list of acquaintances and adds a little objective next to it, too.

_Friend._

—

Luhan thinks Sehun must be a little obstinate- he comes back the same afternoon after lunch as promised, a couple of books under his arm and a hand pressed against this chubby belly, and he sits among sunflowers while complaining he ate way too much soup. He also rambles something about school and stuff like that, but Luhan can’t understand a single word that comes out from his mouth. The fairy doesn’t know much about the human world, he only knows a thing or two about what kind of food they like (Jondgae sees them eating fruit every single day, so he guesses they like eating sweet things mostly) so he sits on the edge of his flower and simply stares at how fast Sehun writes things on a piece of paper until the boy looks up to meet his gaze. He smiles and Luhan tilts his head, wings gently fluttering in the air and a hint of genuine curiosity painted on his glowing face. Then, just like he suddenly remembered something, the little creature’s arms are up in the air and his little fingers are moving.

“You didn’t greet me” Luhan explains when Sehun looks at him with questions marks literally appearing around his head. The boy then laughs lightly and lends him his hand, letting the fairy hold his fingertip just like it happened earlier (Luhan doesn’t want to admit that he enjoys the warmth Sehun’s skin releases very much, but he does).

Sehun tries to explain what going to school feels like (hell), he talks about teachers (monsters) and his classmates (he doesn’t like them and they don’t like him). He talks about studying (the reason of his early death) and homework (the reason of his daily headaches) but he doesn’t mention his friends- because he doesn’t have any, Luhan thinks.

Sehun begs Luhan to talk about his life- his friends, his favorite thing to eat, the place he lives in. He wants to know what he does all day, what time he goes to sleep, how the hell he can fly without being scared, where he buys his little clothes and Luhan is tempted to write his questions down because he honestly would never be able to remember everything.

“I was born here, this is all I have” Luhan starts talking, gently patting the sunflower he’s sitting on. He tells Sehun about the day he saw the sun for the first time, surrounded by tender yellow walls on a hot June morning of almost four years ago. He talks about his job too, pointing at some poppies and bushes greener than ever.

“Do you see those flowers? I painted them a few days ago. Aren’t they pretty?” he asks with a hint of pride in his voice and a hint of red on his cheeks (totally not because Sehun praises him for ten minutes straight).

Luhan mentions Jongdae, Minseok and Kyungsoo as well, who happens to be the one who sews clothes for everyone (Luhan included). There’s no money in his world, or parents, or shops, or schools, or hospitals.

The tiny glowing creature just shrugs when Sehun asks where do fairies go when they die.

“I want to become a sunflower when I die,” Luhan says with dreamy eyes and a little smile on his golden lips, “I’ll be the most beautiful sunflower in the whole fields of gold,” he says again and Sehun agrees without even thinking about it.

They chat until the sky turns indigo and Luhan suddenly yawns, small fists rubbing his sleepy eyes and Sehun’s homework still untouched on the ground. They both decide to talk again soon and before Sehun can go back home, Luhan shakes his friend’s fingertip in a way that makes Sehun’s heart melt.  

—

If Luhan has to be honest, like 145,5% honest, he’d say that Sehun probably grows up faster than the golden pumpkin flowers he painted last week. Even though they meet each other every single day, the fairy can clearly see how his fingers become longer and how his jawline gets sharper and how his voice seems to turn deeper day by day. The boy’s shoulders are as broad as an airplane, and when he greets Luhan with a slice of cake in his hand on a misty evening in April, the pixie can’t believe that there’s a 16 painted on the whipped cream instead of a 24 or something. His time conception must be fixed somehow, but that’s something he can work on later. The whipping cream feels like heaven inside his little pink mouth and honestly he doesn’t even care if basically half of his face is white and dirty; as soon as Sehun offers him another piece of cake, the fairy thankfully grabs it and stuffs himself until he can’t fly anymore.

Sehun talks about the secret birthday party his friends threw for him, and he does that with a sad smile that makes Luhan wonder if Sehun genuinely likes spending time with them or not.

“You weren’t there,” Sehun explains after accepting Luhan’s gift (a red and juicy strawberry that Jongdae grew himself, almost two times bigger than his head), “and you’re my friend as well, aren’t you?”

Luhan nods without hesitation because they really are friends, even though they are different on so many levels. Luhan enjoys spending afternoons listening to his voice as he tells stories and little fun adventures he’s been on (like that one time he was in Japan with his family and he got lost somewhere near the railway station because he stopped to pet a cat and his family kinda left him behind). Luhan also really enjoys painting colorful scenarios on the back of Sehun’s enormous hand with a brush, the same old brush he uses for his flowers, because painting is his life and he’s really good at it. He draws animals and sunflowers and skies and cakes and rainbows; Sehun loves all of that and his heart cries everytime he has to shower because that means saying goodbye to his small masterpieces. They go on walks together under the warm summer sun, visit the lake whenever Minseok isn’t sleeping (Luhan doesn’t want Sehun to see other fairies, or well, actually it’s the other way around), take random naps shielded by the shadows of trees taller than skyscrapers and eat snacks right before the sunset.

They do spend a lot of time together, Luhan realizes when Sehun meets him with a piece of his birthday cake (there’s a 18 written on it and the fairy almost doesn’t see it because  _whipped cream yes give it to me right now_ ) and a couple of textbooks under his arm. The boy says school is a mess and his teachers probably hate him with a burning passion, but he can’t quit because he can almost taste the happiness of touching his own diploma and he’s so close yet so far from it. He studies biology and science and korean literature and history and maths and only raises his head when Luhan falls asleep curled up on his thigh. There’s glitter all over his denim jeans and on his notebook too, but Sehun doesn’t mind much. He puts a little blanket on Luhan’s petite frame and gets back to work.

“I wish you were bigger” Sehun’s words are mixed with his crystal clear laugh and Luhan watches as the boy stands up, head high in the sky and so far away from him, and he smiles. He wishes he was bigger too, but he doesn’t say anything. The fairy waves happily as Sehun walks away, a deep yellow snapback covering his recently dyed blonde hair and red sunglasses on his perfect nose, and the only thing that comes to his mind is that yellow has always been his favorite color.

That night, when the fields of gold are swallowed in the dark and the moon is glowing behind the clouds, Luhan sticks his head out of his sunflower and his golden irises meet a falling star. Jongdae once told him that falling stars can make wishes come true (he asked for bigger cherries and now those deep red gifts from Mother Nature are huge) so the little fairy clears his throat and thinks really hard. He doesn’t want to waste this opportunity and so he wishes to be a little bigger, even though he already knows it’s a silly thing to wish for. Luhan thinks of Sehun; he wants to shake his hand and follow him with his feet and not his wings, he wants to hug him with his arms and not with his imagination, and if it’s not too much, he also wishes to be Sehun’s friend until he dies.

It doesn’t really matter when Luhan wakes up the morning after to see that he’s still as tall as a thumb, with fluttering wings and fairy dust everywhere, because he spots Sehun right away and he’s happy again.

—

“Do fairies experience love?” Sehun wonders with Luhan sitting peacefully on his left shoulder, eyes fixed on the book he’s been trying to read since forever and feet bathed by the lake’s warm waves. Luhan has to think about it - he has never seen any of his friend with a partner or anything like that, and he doubts that fruit counts as well (Jongdae’s only love is his fruit) so he simply shrugs, trying not to look at the sun’s blinding reflection on the water. He doesn’t know what loving someone feels like, but when Sehun tries to explain it- except maybe from feeling the heart beating furiously inside someone’s chest- it seems that loving -and to be loved back- is something wonderful.

Luhan thinks about his friendship with Sehun through the years; he was so afraid at first, and now even sleeping inside his pocket feels like a normal thing to do. They have spent literally every day exploring the fields of gold and exploring themselves as well, always asking questions and remembering little details such as favorite colors and birthdays. Luhan thinks he might love Sehun, the same little Sehun that was this far from destroying his home, the same old Sehun who makes him laugh and who fills his tummy with delicious, fattening food every time he can. Luhan also thinks that Sehun might love him back if he was, like, at least as tall as him. No human would love such a small creature, the fairy finds himself muttering while his friend turns another page of his book. Sehun probably doesn’t love Luhan like Romeo loves Juliet. He probably loves him (if he does, at least) like a boy loves his dog, and that makes him so sad that his golden irises slowly turn bronze.

“Sehun, would you love me if I was bigger?” Luhan asks Sehun before they say each other goodbye.

“What are you saying?” Sehun replies with a confused expression on his face, “I already do” he admits and the grin Luhan see is better than yellow. And Luhan really likes yellow.

That night the fairy spots another falling star and this time he prays really hard- as hard as he can, with all the strength he has stored in that frail, little body of his, but nothing happens. In his dream, Luhan is as tall as Sehun; they talk, and the way their fingers intertwine fills Luhan’s tummy with butterflies. They hug and then Sehun leans in- they kiss.

Luhan’s eyes shoot open and he finds himself inside his sunflower just like every other morning, and for the first time in his life, he finds out that fairies cry too.

—

Time flies when you’re with someone you love. Suddenly Sehun is nineteen and he tells Luhan about this girl who confessed last week. He says she’s pretty, her eyes are sparkly and her personality matches with his own, and he says that he might take her out on a date. Luhan plays with the hem of his pants and nods, thinking about how much he wishes Sehun would take him out on a date too.

Luhan realizes he’s slowly losing Sehun when his friend keeps using his cellphone even though they’re chatting, but he doesn’t say anything. They’re friends, right?

When Sehun tells him one day that this girl is more annoying than a mosquito and their relationship just won’t work out, Luhan ignores how he hates seeing his reflection on the water and focuses on how happy he is because Sehun is his once again.

“Dating you would be so much easier, we’ve know each other for so long” Sehun whispers and Luhan nods furiously, hugging the human’s index finger like his life depended on it.

“Would you date me if I was human?” Luhan asks and even though that’s such a stupid question, he watches as Sehun nods and he decides that he’s tired of waiting.

The day after, when Minseok is working alone and Sehun is away on a road trip with his family, Luhan asks Kyungsoo for something he can cut things with and the fairy gives him the sharpest pair of scissors he owns (“Be careful, you might cut yourself” Kyungsoo says, and Luhan replies with a weak “I hope so”). Luhan also asks Kyungsoo to tell the others he went on a vacation somewhere far away, and that he’s not sure if he’ll ever come back.

Later, when the sun is long gone and the stars quietly stare at him from afar, Luhan looks at his hands dipped in liquid gold and feels his breath shorten- he’s dying. He reaches for the colorful gauze that used to be his wings and holds it tightly against his chest, thinking that maybe cutting off his wings was the right thing to do. He passes out with Sehun’s face painted behind his eyelids and if this how he dies, his heart is at peace because at least he died for love.

—

Sehun comes back from the road trip with a strawberry cake carefully wrapped in a yellow paper and an incredibly annoying headache. His family kept talking about college and work and money and responsibilities and honestly all Sehun wanted was to spend some time with Luhan. Swimming in the lake, walking among sunflowers, eating sweets, it didn’t really matter. He missed his little fairy so much that when his dad parks the car in the garage at six am, Sehun doesn’t even go to bed and literally sprints towards the fields of gold. The sun is already up, so Luhan must be awake as well. He holds the cake tight- he knows how much Luhan loves whipped cream and everything sweet, so he decided to buy that as a souvenir. If only Luhan was bigger, well, things would be different. Sehun would drive him around all the time, he would take him to the city and they would eat ice-cream sitting on a swing.

“Luhan! I brought cake!” Sehun yells as soon as he starts walking among sunflowers, a proud smile on his face and his heart beating just like a hammer, but Luhan is nowhere to be seen. He waits, and waits, and waits, and waits. Sehun calls Luhan until his throat hurts and he checks every single sunflower he sees: he’s gone.

He doesn’t want to panic, but eventually he does, and his yells turn into screams without him even noticing. What if something happened to him while he was gone? What if someone found him and killed him? Or what if an animal ate him-

“Sehun?” a small voice says behind him, a voice so familiar that a wave of relief drowns Sehun in a second. He thinks Luhan is probably flying behind him, so when he turns around to greet him properly and give him his present, the cake falls right on the ground- that’s not Luhan. Luhan isn’t as tall as him, his ears are pointy, his irises are golden like honey, there’s a beautiful pair of wings attached to his bare back and whoever is standing in front of Sehun, well, is not Luhan.  _His_  Luhan.

Sehun realizes a knot is slowly starting to choke him when the boy turns around and shows him two fresh wounds on his back where there used to be wings. _Luhan’s stunning glowing wings._

“Luhan?” Sehun almost cries out, watching as the slightly shorter boy lends him his hand with cheeks stained by tears and a mop of honey blond hair covering his eyes.

“You didn’t greet me” Luhan replies and the older swears his heart stopped beating.

Sehun watches as their hands are finally able to become one beautiful tangle of fingers and when the sunlight hits them for the first time, Sehun swears Luhan can still somehow glow.

—

Luhan thinks he’s lucky- he loves yellow. He loves the yellow t-shirt he’s wearing, he loves the yellow paint he bought last Tuesday to finish his painting, he loves the yellow curtains he arranged above the windows of his bedroom. Luhan thinks he’s even luckier when Sehun hugs him from behind and gently presses his lips against the scars on his back.

“So what’s its name?” Sehun murmurs against his ear, watching as Luhan’s hand gently pats the sunflower they recently bought.

“Lucky,” Luhan decides, “like me” he says as he turns around to kiss properly Sehun on the lips.

Sehun thinks he might be the lucky one- he doesn’t say anything though (just because Luhan’s lips are still on his own, not that he’s complaining).


End file.
